Qualco UK tennis lending library hailed a great success

The tennis equipment lending library Qualco UK established to transform two Birmingham schools has been hailed a great success by the local community.

In association with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Qualco UK launched the library in summer 2016 in a pioneering scheme that enables students to borrow and use the equipment to play tennis in their own time at home or in their local park with their families. It was an idea suggested by the children at Rockwood Academy and Nansen Primary School following an initial consultation about what might enable them to play more tennis.

The response from students has been overwhelmingly positive:

Muhammed commented: “I am very competitive so I like to take every opportunity that I can get to develop my skills. I love tennis and using the equipment leant to me through the lending library helps me to continually develop my game when playing on a court, in the park or even in the street”.

Asia added: “Using the equipment from the lending library has helped me increase my group of friends because we can go to the park and play games together. We play tennis in school but now we can also play at the weekend with good rackets. I would say that it has also helped my confidence because we talk a lot about the rules and how we can improve our skills”.

Head of Development at Core Academy, Cathy O’Driscoll said: “As well as the opportunity to set up the lending library, the sponsorship has also enabled us to visit the Aegon Classic international ladies event. Not only did we get to go and watch some amazing tennis but one of our pupils also got to do the coin toss before the second match on Centre Court. What an amazing experience, thank you Qualco!”

Christian Jacob, Managing Director at Qualco UK said, “We are delighted that the tennis equipment lending library has been so successful and we are pleased to have donated further equipment this year to get more of the local community involved. We look forward to continuing our involvement in such a worthwhile initiative.”